Objective: To evaluate the relationship between police cadets’ facial traits and their subsequent promotional success.Methods: Using archival police academy photographs, we use a two-phase experiment to evaluate the impact of facial traits on future promotional success. First, respondents (n=507) view randomly selected photographs of cadets (observations=15,669) and evaluate them for facial traits and perceived leadership ability. Second, respondents are presented with random dyads of differentially promoted recruits, and choose one based on the highest perceived leadership ability. We compare those leadership evaluations to the subsequent promotional success of the cadets featured in the photographs (observations=5739). We employ Bayesian multilevel modeling throughout both phases.Results: Facial traits are the primary driver of subject perceptions of leadership ability, and those perceptions successfully predict promotional success later in the cadets’ careers. When selecting for leadership potential based on police cadet photographs, respondents predict correct promotional choices at levels well above chance as measured by an AUC score of .70. Further, respondents’ evaluations successfully discriminate both between no promotion and lieutenant promotion, and sergeant versus lieutenant promotions.Conclusions: Promoting the most capable police officers is a critical feature of public service. Our findings cast a degree of doubt on the purportedly meritocratic foundations of police promotion and selection. Extra-legal information, such as facial features, predicts later promotional success.
Researchers found that people can predict which police cadets will get promoted later in their careers simply by looking at their academy graduation photos, suggesting that facial appearance influences promotion decisions. When shown pairs of photos, observers correctly identified who would be promoted 70% of the time based solely on perceived leadership traits from facial features. This finding raises concerns that police promotions may not be based purely on merit and job performance, but are instead influenced by unconscious biases about how leaders should look.
(AI-generated summary, v1, January 2026)
Citations: 0 (as of January 2026)